Not really in a blogging mood but there was something I saw on T.V. Yesterday .

There is nothing wrong with being a skeptic.  When it comes to investing or trading, it sometimes pays to be a contrarian.  Religion and God?  I'm an agnostic.  Believing what the government tells me?  Pfft...not with the GOP in charge! But sometimes, skepticism can turn into stupidity, and when it comes to not believing in climate change, that is such a case.  Today the Associated Press had a story that should open the eyes to many conservative skeptics of climate change!

First, my apologies that this took so long.  It shouldn't have.  Anyhow, here it is.

This is copied in full from Circle's diary .  Being on dialup, I had nothing better to add.  I just wanted to keep this alive. Again, apologies to Circle.  

So. I drove back through Anderson Valley, yesterday, through Boonville, and into Sonoma County, through Cloverdale south to Rohnert Park where I had an interview at KRCB, a Sonoma county NPR station. Otherwise, I wouldn't have made the drive. The smoke would have kept me in.  Air pollution is two to three times the amount considered safe by federal standards.

"All of Northern California is being impacted by severely degraded air quality," said Lake County health officer Karen Tait. "Residents should be prepared to stay indoors and avoid vigorous physical activity."

So. I drove back through Anderson Valley, yesterday, through Boonville, and into Sonoma County, through Cloverdale south to Rohnert Park where I had an interview at KRCB, a Sonoma county NPR station. Otherwise, I wouldn't have made the drive. The smoke would have kept me in. Air pollution is two to three times the amount considered safe by federal standards.

"All of Northern California is being impacted by severely degraded air quality," said Lake County health officer Karen Tait. "Residents should be prepared to stay indoors and avoid vigorous physical activity."

Since 1995 the number of oceanic dead zones, masses of oxygen depleted water deadly to most marine life, has grown from 44 to 169. The International Whaling Commission reported that dead zones are killing the world's coastlines, increasing by a third in the last two years.  

Mississippi flood waters, fouled with run off of sewage and fertilizer, are forecast to cause a record dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico later this summer.

By IWC

While most of our country, rightly so, is focused on the ever increasing cost of gasoline, and its effect on our economy, this will be one of those diaries that reminds you that a much more valuable resource (now commodity?) is endangered.  This resource is something we need for life, and it is simply water.

We are running out of freshwater

In the first seven years of the new millennium, more studies, reports, and books on the global water crisis have been published than in all of the preceding century. Almost every country has undertaken research to ascertain its water wealth and the threats to its aquatic systems. Universities around the world are setting up departments or cross-departmental disciplines to study the effects of water shortages. The Worldwatch Institute has declared: "Water scarcity may be the most underappreciated global environmental challenge of our time."

For this diary, I will be offering quotes out of a new article on "The American Prospect"...follow me below

The latest advertisement from the coal industry warns us that without drastic measures to embrace Clean Coal, we risk saying "Goodbye to the American way of life that we all know and love."

Goodbye. Adios. Sayonara. Au revoir.

As if we needed another facet to the global climate change and energy demand debates, we can now add the following: evidence is mounting that our insatiable consumption of petroleum has finally (and inevitably) brought us to the cusp of Peak Oil. More hard decisions are going to be required in the near future, and it is critical that we avoid succumbing to our natural inclination towards easy fixes.

It had seemed that ABEChad bit the dust, having been transformed into ACCCE. But, it seems that obituary might have been a bit too soon as my in-box just was filled with truthiness and deception from the astroturfing Americans for Balanced Energy Choices. Let’s take a brief look at this material from America’s coal power purveyors.

The Lieberman-Warner Climate inSecurity Act (CISA) can accurately be described as the Coal Subsidy Act. With all the embedded subsidies and support for the coal industry, why is the coal industry fighting the Coal Subsidy Act?

In short: not enough.  

In short: Profits.

The Chinese join such countries as Bangladesh and South Africa in making the Great Leap Forward:

China Bans Free Plastic Bags

Beginning on June 1, all supermarkets, department stores and shops will be prohibited from giving out free plastic bags, the State Council said. Stores must clearly mark the price of plastic shopping bags and are banned from tacking that price onto products.

It is perhaps odd that in a country where air and water quality have experienced such shocking deterioration in recent years that this is where the Chinese put their efforts. But maybe it helps morale to pass a law that can have such a visible impact so quickly.  

The regulation is part of Beijing's increased efforts to fight the pollution that has accompanied breakneck economic growth. As factories churn out low-cost products for the world's consumers, they have severely fouled the country's air and water.

More below the fold.

While I am delighted for Daniel Burd...why on earth was he the first person to come up with this?

To DailyKos readers the problems of plastic pollution are not new - it sits in landfills for millenia. Floats in the ocean and animals eat it or get caught in it and drown.

The slurry of chemicals from degrading plastic hurts human health, animal health, and soil and ocean health.

Well Daniel was sick and tired of it and came up with a solution for his science fair project.

Take a look...

Every Progressive should recognize and incorporate, deep in their soul, the plain fact:  Peak and Global Warming are the most serious threats to Progressive ideals, concepts, policies, and aspirations through the 21st century ... AND today.

These are not just let’s wait until tomorrow issues, that should be put in the back of the line to deal with after other issues, we must address them with urgency today if we hope for a progressive world tomorrow.

Are the volcanic eruptions in Chili and Mexico, occurring around the same time as a 7.9 earthquake in China, evidence of major disturbances on the tectonic plate that comprises the Ring of Fire?  Are we in for more disturbances?  Is anyone predicting more volcanic activity or more earthquakes, or has the pressure been released, for now?

Is anyone, any nation or group, attempting to gather up that huge floating island of plastic which has accumulated in the Pacific Ocean, as a result of currents carrying coastal and ship bourne debris into a pile?  It certainly got a burst of media attention for a couple of days.  Did it move anyone to action?  

Originally posted on EquityBlog, a project of PolicyLink

By Shireen Malekafzali, PolicyLink Health Associate

TAKE A BREATH...sounds easy huh? Well, not for one in every seven kids in the US.

As a mostly full-time environmentalist - for about a decade and a half now - in my efforts I have focused on the threats to human health, and the human prospect;

Climate change.
Mercury in flesh.
Phthalates, bisphenol A, and other plastic/chemical gambles with every child's destiny, via the endocrine system.

These are increasingly urgent problems. The list goes on and on, and sometimes it all seems overwhelming to many of us; Ocean acidification and oceanic dead zones flicker through newscasts. The disintegration of the life-support systems we depend on continues to accelerate.

The encouraging perspective would only fit after the flip:

This story is breaking in the Chicago Tribune....  EPA political appointees force removal of well-respected EPA Regional Administrator Mary Gade after pressure from Dow Chemical Company.  

Links and more below the fold.